Drift from the Churches

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 105, 28 January 1931, Page 7

Drift from the Churches

Sir, —I am of the opinion that secession from the churches is not caused by the quality of the sermons, the ritual practised, or the various other things mentioned by your correspondents, so much as by the absence of real Christian conduct on the part of church-goers and professing Christians generally. With remarkably few exceptions _ the code of conduct governing the actions of the church officials, and of many preachers, is, if any. so little higher than the average person’s that one cannot wonder at the mass staying away. . The existing poverty, nor the fact, that there have always been people living in semi-starvation does Hot appear to affect pleasurd trips of those whose professions imply the practice of self-sacri-fice. A trip abroad seems to be a very common experience of the disciples of the Man who had not where to lay His head. It is these things that men ponder; the very antithesis to the teaching and practice of Christ, and the.perpetuation of obsolete and worn-out doctrinal views and theories together that alienate the sympathies of men and frornen of these times, who are shaking off the graveelothes of superstitious orthodoxy and exercising more freely, without fear of the dire penalties prescribed by an anachronistic ecclesiasticism, their Godgiven powers of thought and will. What encouragement or inducement is there for church attendance when there is every probability of being thrown cheek by jowl with one who would not scruple to put it across you during the week? I could relate some very illuminating instances. An ultra-religionist not long since suggested to me that from a business point of view it was desirable to link up with some church, but I refrained'from eliciting his reason. To be fair, in conclusion, one of my pleasantest memories is the practical example of Christian assistance once extended to me in my need by a minister, but I believe 1 he would have done the same thing had he been a butcher, baker or candlestick maker.—l am, etc.. “INDEPENDENT.” Hutt, January 22.

Sir, —Some of your correspondents have endeavoured to account for the “Drift from the Churches,” but seem to have missed some of the main factors. We are coming to a climax of a conflict that has been on in all ages: the conflict of faith v. reason. Men have in all ages used the general doctrines of religion to interpret the facts of observed nature and experiences of life, and when these doctrines fail to explain them, then the "drift” takes place, and the drift now on is from supernaturalism to naturalism.

The earth is no longer the centre of the universe, created for man’s special benefit. Man is but a minute organism marooned upon a second-rate satellite of a fourth-rate star, of which there are thousands of millions similar stars in infinite space. During the last century a notable fact was that “evolution” became the dominant factor in scientific thought and the working principle of all naturalists. Evolution applies to man’s religion or philosophy of life as well as his bodily frame. The evolution of philosophy does not take place as a slow, steady climb, but advances in stages. We pass through periods of faith and periods of doubt, for man is continually making new discoveries that will not fit into the old systems of thought, so a new system must be formulated. When the. new system arrives, those in possession of

the new knowledge—who are doubtless of the old system—become the faithful, and the faithful of the old are the sceptics of the new. So we alternate from faith to doubt and from doubt to. faith—thus we progress. This process will continually go on until the ultimate rational explanation of man and the universe is achieved. Then man will rise to a stage of human evolution never yet attained.—l am, etc., yv. W. MARKLAND. Normandale, January 21.